Examination of Treatment Episodes Among Women and Racial and Ethnic Minorities in Addiction Treatment

Abstract

Women and racial and ethnic minorities face significant challenges to successfully completing substance abuse treatment. There is limited knowledge about factors that affect women and minorities' treatment careers over several treatment episodes. Survival Cox regression was used to model time and episodes to treatment completion. Using multiyear (2006–2009) data, the sample consisted of 52,799 clients from 276 treatment programs in Los Angeles County, California. Findings supported the role of homelessness and mental health status and their association with more episodes to complete treatment. Results also showed that the rate of completion was 41% lower among African Americans and 17% lower among Latinos compared to Whites. With each additional treatment episode, the rate of treatment completion increased by 73% for all groups. Compared to minorities, Whites and men were more likely to complete treatment throughout their treatment career trajectories. Implications for social work interventions to enhance treatment adherence and reduce disparities are discussed.

Keywords:

• gender disparities
• racial and ethnic disparities
• survival analysis
• treatment completion
• treatment episodes